Large-scale C++ software design

What Hacker News says

1. RossBencinaSep 2025
   > If you avoid circular refs

   See the book "Large Scale C++ Software Design" by John Lakos for more detail in this direction.

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2. rramadassDec 2024
   > In general my project is late adopters.

   Amen ;-)

   John Lakos' old Large Scale C++ Software Design (there is a newer edition which i have not read) taught me C++ "physical design".

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3. halfcatDec 2024
   I recall not being very effective with C++ for years, and then someone recommended the book Large Scale C++ Software Design, and that was a big unlock.

   I didn’t use 80% of what’s in the book, but just having a comprehensive way of structuring the code was a massive productivity boost. Looking back, I suspect it was less that it was “the right way”, but just that it was “a way” and most of the benefit was it kept me from overthinking and got me to work.

   Later with C++11, I kept having this thought, “in Python this would be way less verbose”, and I started writing C++ that looked more like Python, creating whatever helper functions Python would have (mostly simple stuff, string handling, etc).

   That was one of the most productive seasons of programming I ever had, and I still get tempted to write stuff in C++ that Python is better suited for, just because the benefit of not overthinking is that significant (at least for me).

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4. AdieuToLogicMar 2024
   This article reminded me of a seminal C++ book on this subject:

   Lakos, John (1996). Large-Scale C++ Software Design. Addison-Wesley.

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5. lll-o-lllJan 2024
   Yeah, but it’s the type of tests that are often the problem. You need tests that cover the functional (and as much as possible, non-functional), requirements of each “component”.

   In practice, we tend to have a pile of tests that helped the developer write the code, but now are simply redundant. Then you have all the tests that assert on internal details (strings in error messages anyone?).

   My favorite guide to testing well is in “Large-Scale C++ Software Design” by John Lakos. The problem at its heart is one of engineering practices. Structuring code bases physically into definable components/modules, interacting only via defined api’s/interfaces and providing test suits that both document and verify the contracts. Done right, refactoring/rewriting involves no, or extremely minimal, changes to the tests.

   It can be done right, but it requires significant discipline.

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6. WantonQuantumJul 2023
   I read Large-Scale C++ Software Design by John Lakos when it came out and even though I don't do much C++ anymore, it set me up with a mental model that has worked very well for almost 30 years now.
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